Abstract

The effect of CoO spin orientation on exchange coupling was investigated in single-crystalline Fe/CoO/MnO/MgO(001) systems. An antiferromagnetic CoO spin reorientation transition from the in-plane direction to the out-of-plane direction was found to be associated with the in-plane strain transition in CoO film from compression to expansion. The induced uniaxial anisotropies by exchange coupling at the Fe/CoO interface are significantly stronger for the in-plane CoO spin orientation than for the out-of-plane CoO spin orientation. Our study provides a way to modify the exchange coupling in the ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayer by modulating the strain in the AFMfilm.

This work was supported by MOST (Nos. 2011CB921801 and 2009CB929203), by NSFC of China (Nos. 10925416 and 11274074), by WHMFC (No. WHMFCKF2011008), and by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (No. 2012R1A1A2007524).

Key Topics

[Magnets or magnetic bodies characterised by the
magnetic materials therefor; Selection of materials for their magnetic
properties, Magnets or magnetic bodies characterised by the magnetic materials therefor; Selection of materials for their magnetic properties]